I think this is the first Over the Hill I wrote. Can't be sure. It's not great, but there it is.
And obviously the information about usenet is woefully out of date. So ignore that and focus on the Cairn.
Well, welcome from over the hill. First, let me explain the title. Years ago, when I was President, I wrote a few articles for the Cairn called, "View from the Top". Well, since I'm no longer president, or a student, and now classify as an "old-fart", it was suggested to me that I title a piece "Over the Hill". So, from over the hill, let's see what there is to see.
While sitting in the Pit the other day, a few of us were discussing the lack of articles for the Cairn. We thought about why people weren't writing anything. My excuse was weak. I said I'd written so many in the past, that I should let someone else write a few. But, no one else has been. So, I decided I'd do my part and write, in the hopes that I'll inspire others to write. The hardest part of course is always deciding what to write about, to wit, choosing a topic.
As you may have noticed, I've yet to settle on a topic. But I'm building my way up to one.
I've got lots of thoughts churning in my head, but none that I can make a whole lot of sense of right now. So, I think I'll settle on something simple for now;
First, for those of you who aren't familiar with what a cairn is, a definition. Simply put, a cairn is a pile of rocks marking a trail, a signpost if you will. It tells you where to go, or if you look back, where you've been. But, keep in mind, it only marks the trail, it doesn't force you to stay on the trail, it simply suggests one way of getting where you're going. Many times cairns change sizes. Sometimes they grow smaller as a rock falls off and rolls down the hill. Other times they grow as each hiker comes along and adds a rock to the pile.
The Cairn, is also the club newspaper. A signpost perhaps of where the club is, was, and where it is going. And like a cairn on the trail, anyone can add what they want to this Cairn. Building a cairn doesn't take special knowledge or skill. You don't have to go to cairn building school or have a special permit from anyone to add to a cairn you find along the trail. Like a trail cairn, adding to this Cairn doesn't take special knowledge or skill. So, please, write whatever you wish for the Cairn. I know that I'll be interested in reading it, and I'm sure others will be too.
Before I end this article, I wanted to add a quick note. As you're all probably aware of now, RPI now has a very large campus-wide UNIX system. Sure, many of you may think of this as that slow machine in the VCC I have to do Maple on, but there are many other uses for it also. One of the is USENET. What is USENET you might ask? Well, it's simply a worldwide conferencing section. There you can find a discussion group on almost any topic you can think of, including the outdoors. Currently, among the discussions are several of interest to club members, REC.BACKCOUNTRY, REC.CLIMBING, REC.BOATS.PADDLE, and many more. Through these discussions you can talk to people around the world on subjects close to your heart. Want to know what others think of water purification systems? Tune in to REC.BACKCOUNTRY, this topic has been going on for several days. Want to know when they remove the cables at Half-Dome? Check out REC.CLIMBING. Want to know what boats people recommend? Check out REC.BOATS.PADDLE.
To access all this, type RN at the UNIX prompt. I'm not sure what the program is on most machines, but RN (Read News) is fairly common. There are several others, ask your system consultant for more details. Once the program is running, you can usually type G
So, from over the hill, here's wishing you happy outing.
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